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Just got back from a fun and relaxing Canada Day long weekend at Shoal Lake and naturally wherever I go opportunities to deepen my understanding of Aikido always seem to follow.

Rootedness on Unstable Ground

I woke up early on Saturday morning and did a hybrid of my AM workout on the dock --- some balance and Chi Kung breathing/centering exercises and basic Aikido kihon exercises such as different varieties of Irimi Tenkan (as well as some improvised cardio/strength ones thrown in for good measure later on).

As I was performing the balancing and centering exercises in particular, I found that Kawahara sensei's descriptive imagery of rootedness took on a new dimension. It was far more windy that morning than ever before and the already unstable dock would rock back and forth quite erratically. Up until this point, I had only had a physical understanding of rootedness "in one's feet" by way of feeling connection to the ground. I had only a mental understanding of rootedness in one's centre from feeling more stable on stable ground by lowering my centre of gravity (through squatting in Aikido technique). But when one's ground is itself unstable, one's ability to stay centered is no longer felt in the lower body but (as it became quite apparent to me on the dock) in one's hara. What was once solely a visual depiction suddenly became a sensory one.

The Aiki of Fishing

We did a fair amount of fishing this weekend, which I enjoyed (caught one Jack, which we ate
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